Method and system for internet access

ABSTRACT

Costs associated with accessing the internet from a public terminal are borne by one or more sponsors. The terminal thus sponsored may, in exchange, be limited in the internet domains it is capable of browsing. If a user wishes to browse beyond the sponsored domains, a usage charge may be assessed. In other arrangements, web cards (like pre-paid phone cards) may be sold at retail establishments (or issued by libraries), to permit web browsing from compliant terminals. A variety of other arrangements are also detailed.

RELATED APPLICATION DATA

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/697,780,filed Oct. 26, 2000.

The subject matter of the present application is also related to thatdisclosed in application Ser. No. 09/571,422, filed May 15, 2000 (nowU.S. Pat. No. 6,947,571).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to non-traditional methods of providinginternet access.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Internet access is becoming ubiquitous. Home, office, and school are nolonger the only sites from which users gain access. Increasingly,internet access can also be obtained from terminals at airport kiosks,coffee shops, photocopy centers, city halls, and other non-traditionalsites (“public sites”).

When accessing the internet from such public sites, users may berequired to utilitize an Internet Service Provider (ISP) associated withthat terminal, or they may be given the option of signing-on using thecustomary ISP they use at home or work. In either case, a fee istypically charged for such public access.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, costs associatedwith accessing the internet from a public site are borne by one or moresponsors. The internet terminal thus sponsored may, in exchange, belimited in the internet domains it is capable of browsing. For example,if the terminal is sponsored by an automobile manufacturer, the terminalmay be limited to browsing that manufacturer's web pages. Browsing ofcertain other domains may also be permitted (for example, the web pagesat the weather.com and cnn.com domains). But browsing of web sitesassociated with competitors of the sponsor may be restricted.

Some such terminals are equipped with optical input devices, such as webcams, permitting users to present physical objects to the device (e.g.,magazine advertisements or product packaging), and be linked tocorresponding web pages. Such arrangements are further detailed in thecited '422 application; such optically-based linking services areoffered by the present assignee under the Digimarc MediaBridge servicemark.

According to another aspect of the invention, web cards (like pre-paidphone cards) may be sold at retail establishments (or issued bylibraries), to permit web browsing from compliant terminals. The cardsmay have fixed or programmable restrictions, e.g., preventing browsingof adult content web sites.

The foregoing and additional features and advantages of the presentinvention will be more readily apparent from the following detaileddescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1-4 are flow charts illustrating certain embodiments of thetechnology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An internet terminal according to one embodiment of the presentinvention is a kiosk in an airport terminal. Persons awaiting flightscan utilize the terminal to browse internet domains authorized by asponsor of the unit. For example, if the kiosk is sponsored by FordMotor Company, the user may be permitted to browse URLs associated withthe root domains ford.com, jaguar.com, and volvo.com (i.e., Fordbrands). Additionally, browsing of certain non-Ford sites may besponsored by Ford simply to generate customer goodwill.

The internet connectivity associated with such a terminal may beprovided by an ISP that bills Ford a monthly fee. Ford may also pay anytelephone line charge or floor space rent associated with such a device.Alternatively, a third party may own and operate the terminal—paying theassociated ISP and telephone fees, rent, etc.—and then make the terminalavailable for Ford's sponsorship in exchange for a fee. The fee can be aset amount per month, or can be related to the volume of usage. Usagemodels can take various forms. One charges Ford a set amount per minuteof actual customer usage. Another charges a set amount each time a linkis made to a sponsored (e.g., ford.com) web site. Another charges a setamount for each “user session” (which may be defined as a period of useractivity followed by at least two minutes of inactivity). If thesponsored web sites provide opportunities for e-commerce, then afraction of each sale made through the terminal can be provided to thethird party (typically in addition to other fees). A number of otherpayment arrangements, of course, can be devised.

In some embodiments, the kiosk can be used to browse non-sponsoreddomains, but at a charge to the user. Thus, if the user attempts toaccess a URL at the chevrolet.com root domain, the kiosk may solicit auser credit card number to which a time-based access fee can be charged.The fee can be connect-time based (e.g., $1.00 for the first fiveminutes, and ten cents a minute thereafter); it may vary in accordancewith the time of day (e.g., charging a premium rate during high traffichours), etc.

In addition to use in public places like airports, such terminals canalso be used in retail establishments. For example, such a kiosk may beprovided in the cosmetics section of a department store. The kiosk maybe equipped with a web cam to which customers can present productliterature or packaging. The kiosk may be programmed to sensemachine-readable data from such literature or packaging (e.g., in theform of digital watermarks) and, based on such data, link to webaddresses corresponding to such objects. Again, the kiosk may bearranged to provide such linking free of charge from certain objects(e.g., Revlon products, which lead to web pages at the revlon.com rootdomain), while providing no linking (or fee-based linking) to other webdestinations. Different faces of the product packaging may be encodedwith different data, triggering different responses (e.g., different webdestinations).

Once a user accesses a first sponsored web page from such a terminal,navigation to second and subsequent web pages may be effected byclicking on hyperlinks on the usual manner (e.g., with a mouse or otherpointing device associated with such terminal). In the case just given,if the second web page is also sponsored, then continued no-chargeaccess is provided. However, if the customer attempts to link to a website associated with a root domain that has not been authorized forno-charge browsing, then the customer may be prompted to enter chargecard information, or be blocked from such further browsing.

As detailed in the cited '422 application, linking from objects tocorresponding web destinations can be effected by encoding a URL addressdirectly into the machine-readable data sensed from the printedliterature or packaging. More commonly, however, the object is encodedwith an identifier that is used to access a corresponding URL addressstored in a database or other data structure. The database may be remotefrom the kiosk (e.g., the Digimarc MediaBridge database). In someembodiments, the provider of a remote database receives a usage fee fromthe kiosk sponsor each time the database is consulted in linking from anobject to a sponsored web address. Other compensation arrangements forthe database provider, like those payment arrangements discussedearlier, can also be provided.

As noted, the internet terminal may permit access to computer addressesassociated with one or more root domains. The authorized domain(s) canbe listed in a data record stored in non-volatile storage within theterminal, or at a remote location. (Alternatively, the list can specifydomains to which no-charge browsing is not to be permitted, withno-charge browsing permitted to all non-specified domains.) Storing sucha list at a remote location allows large systems of such terminals,distributed over wide geographic areas, to utilize a sharedlist—facilitating administration.

One way of implementing such a shared list is to utilize the same remotesystem that provides the object identifier-to-URL lookup services. Allterminals can route through a proxy server at the remote system thatenforces browsing based on the identity of the terminal device whichsent the request for a URL. Another approach employs a local proxyserver at the terminal, which receives lists of permitted (or forbidden)domains from the remote system. Relatedly, a custom browser can beemployed at the terminal that performs domain checking based oninformation received from the remote system (e.g., employing thestandard Windows Inet control). A browser extension can also be employedto manage browsable sites.

Considering the first such approach in more detail, the DigimarcMediaBridge database (that is used to provide URLs corresponding toencoded object identifiers) is also used to specify the internet domainsto which no-charge access is to be provided. In such case, the dataexchanged between terminal and database (e.g., as detailed in the '422application) includes data identifying the terminal. The terminalidentification data can take various forms. For example, the data canuniquely identify the terminal (e.g., by serial number). Or it canidentify the terminal as a member of a class of terminals withoutuniquely identifying a particular terminal (e.g., CNN Airport Newsterminals, Kinkos terminals, McDonalds terminals, Qwest terminals, DeltaAirlines terminals). Etc. Based on the terminal identification data, theDigimarc MediaBridge database can consult a corresponding data record todetermine the root domains to which no-charge browsing from thatterminal should be permitted. The data passed back to the terminal canindicate whether a requested link should be provided free of charge.

In some such embodiments, the database evaluates every user-requestedlink, and signals to the originating terminal, accordingly, whether freeaccess is to be provided. A terminal can cache such information locallyfor predetermined periods to permit faster evaluation of certain links.For example, if a first customer presents a Revlon lipstick to a kiosk,and the database responds by informing the kiosk that a link to a website at the revlon.com root domain is to be permitted on a no-chargebasis, then this information may be cached for a predetermined period.Thereafter, if a second customer presents the same product to the kiosk,the kiosk first checks the cache. Finding that no-charge linking wasearlier permitted from such product, then no-charge linking can bepermitted again—without the need to consult the database. (The samecache-based operation can allow free linking from all Revlon products ifthe products can be locally identified as corresponding to the Revlonroot domain, e.g., by caching earlier-determined identifier-to-URLcorrespondences.)

Another approach to limiting browsing does not rely on identification ofthe terminal used. Instead, the object identifier with which an objectis encoded can point to a record in the Digimarc MediaBridge databasethat—in addition to identifying the corresponding URL—also specifiesfurther navigation privileges that can be undertaken from within thebrowser window it launches. Thus, the restriction on browsing can betriggered by the object presented to the computer, rather than whetherthe computer is a public terminal or a home PC.

The determination whether to provide no-charge internet navigation canbe triggered by factors other than the domain to which navigation isrequested. For example, an airport internet kiosk can include a 2Doptical sensor that images an ID or membership card presented by a user,and extracts machine-readable information from the resulting image data.If, for example, a user presents an Alaska Airlines Platinum VISA creditcard, then free access may be permitted. If the user presents an AlaskaAirlines MVP membership card, then browsing at a discounted charge maybe permitted. If a user presents no card, or a card for which specialprivileges are not granted, then browsing at full-rate charges may bepermitted. (Marking of cards with optically-readable information can beachieved in various ways, e.g., by digital watermarks. Digitalwatermarking techniques are well known; exemplary techniques aredetailed in the present assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,260 and inapplication Ser. No. 09/503,881 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,614,914).) In othersuch embodiments, optical sensing is not required, and may be replacedby other verification techniques (e.g., mag stripe reading, RF ID, smartcard technology, etc.). Although it is possible to permit users simplyto type membership numbers at a terminal in order to receive privilegedaccess, such approach may encourage unauthorized sharing of such numbersamong users.

More generally, different cards (or other credentials) can be used toenable different classes of internet access. While credit cards, debitcard, etc. are used today to obtain internet access, many people do nothave such cards (e.g., juveniles). Cards like pre-paid phone cards canbe distributed (e.g., sold) to provide internet access from publicsites.

One such card may be an Unlimited Net Card, which works everywhere. Thecard may be unrestricted in its browsing, or restrictions specified bythe issuer or the purchaser may be enforced. Restrictions by the usermay be specified at the time of purchase (e.g.,language/nudity/sex/violence, per RSACi standards), encoded on the cardas part of the issuance procedure, and thereafter recognized/respectedby the terminal. Or other means can be employed. For example, the firsttime the card is used, the terminal may be directed to a setup/home pagewhere the user can specify parameters of use. Restrictions on browsingcan be specified, e.g., by RSACi or other known internetrating/filtering systems and services. Or browsing can be restricted tocertain specified domains entered by the user. Or browsing can beforbidden on certain domains specified by the user. Or combinations ofthese and other parameters can be employed. All such parameters can thenbe stored in a card profile record stored in a central database, whichis consulted by public terminals each time the card is thereafter used.

Another such card is a Kid Card, which works everywhere, but is contentrestricted (e.g., as detailed above) per one of several pre-establishedprofiles (e.g., tailored for different age ranges). A feature of the KidCard is that a tracking report of sites visited may be maintained andprovided, via e-mail, to a parent/guardian associated with the card. Theparent/guardian email can be specified at time of purchase, or via asetup screen the first time the card is used to access the internet. Theemail tracking report can be provided on-demand (e.g., by sending anemail from the designated email address to a predetermined service),periodically (e.g., weekly), when the card is used-up, etc. Such cardsmay be issued without charge by libraries, with parental consent, topermit use of library terminals that are not, themselves, contentrestricted.

Another card is a Sponsored Card, which may provide no-charge accessonly to certain domains. Such cards may be particularly well suited forissuance by merchants in conjunction with promotions, contests, in storecouponing programs, etc. Typically, although not necessarily, such cardsare issued free of charge, and may not be exhausted by usage or time.

All such cards may be issued, or backed, by a financial institution—suchas a bank or credit card company, but need not be so. When used up, acard can be discarded and a new card bought, or known means can beprovided to replenish the card with additional credit. The cardtypically is issued in fixed increments specified, e.g., in dollars orminutes of access time. Such cards may be distributed in much the sameway as prepaid phone cards are now, e.g., from grocery and conveniencestore checkouts, from vending machines, etc.

Certain of the methods detailed herein are illustrated by the flowchartsof FIGS. 1-4.

In the foregoing discussion of “cards,” other credentials can readily besubstituted—both physical and electronic (virtual). An example of thelatter is a PIN number that, when purchased, entitles to the buyer to100 minutes of internet access. (The user my provide the PIN number tothe terminal in known ways, e.g., by keypad entry, etc.)

To provide a comprehensive disclosure without unduly lengthening thisspecification, the patents and applications cited above are incorporatedherein by references.

Having described and illustrated the principles of the invention withreference to illustrative embodiments, it should be recognized that theinvention is not so limited.

For example, while the detailed description focused on usage ofterminals in public places, the invention is not so limited. The samemethods can be employed at home or at other traditional sites, with thecost of access for a session being borne by a promoter rather than theuser.

While the preferred embodiment employed digital watermarking inconveying data from physical objects to optical sensors, othermachine-readable data representations can be used instead (e.g., barcodes, glyphs, RF IDs, mag stripes, smart card technology, etc.).

Still further, while the preferred embodiments generally operate byusing an object identifier to access a corresponding database record,and from such record determining a corresponding URL, in otherembodiments this need not be the case. Instead, the URL can be directlyencoded on the object.

While most of the above-detailed embodiments contemplated that webnavigation would be effected by optical sensing of objects presented tothe internet terminal, or by clicking on hyperlinks from displayed webpages, other navigation techniques can of course be used, e.g.,typing-in a URL, selecting from a list of stored Favorites sites,clicking on GUI buttons, etc. Moreover, while audio prompting has notbeen detailed, such techniques can be employed to facilitate userinteraction with the terminal.

The reference to internet terminals in the foregoing discussion shouldnot be taken as limiting applicability of the invention to anyparticular form of hardware (e.g., desktop computers or kiosks). Anyinternet-enabled device or appliance can utilize the principles detailedherein, including cell phones and other wireless devices, personaldigital assistants, web-enabled entertainment appliances, etc., etc.Moreover, while full-time internet access by such devices is preferred,the same principles can be employed in other applications, e.g., inwhich product identifiers are cached when internet access is notavailable, and utilized (e.g., sent) when access is thereafter provided.

The implementation of the functionality described above (includingwatermark decoding) is straightforward to artisans in the field, andthus not further belabored here. Conventionally, such technology isimplemented by suitable software, stored in long term memory (e.g.,disk, ROM, etc.), and transferred to temporary memory (e.g., RAM) forexecution on an associated CPU. In other implementations, thefunctionality can be achieved by dedicated hardware, or by a combinationof hardware and software. Reprogrammable logic, including FPGAs, canadvantageously be employed in certain implementations.

It should be recognized that the particular combinations of elements andfeatures in the above-detailed embodiments are exemplary only; theinterchanging and substitution of these teachings with other teachingsin this and the incorporated-by-reference patents/applications are alsocontemplated.

In view of the wide variety of embodiments to which the principles andfeatures discussed above can be applied, it should be apparent that thedetailed embodiments are illustrative only and should not be taken aslimiting the scope of the invention. Rather, we claim as our inventionall such modifications as may come within the scope and spirit of thefollowing claims and equivalents thereof.

We claim:
 1. In a method of providing network services, an improvementcomprising: using a cell phone equipped with a sensor, detecting machinereadable data from an object; by reference to said machine readabledata, accessing a data store containing terms of service informationcorresponding to said object, said terms of service informationidentifying particular computer resources or classes of resources, andassociating corresponding access restrictions with each; and governingthe provision of network services in accordance with said terms ofservice information.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said objectcomprises an ID card.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein said restrictionsrelate to web sites available for browsing by said user.
 4. The methodof claim 1 wherein said restrictions relate to web sites that can bebrowsed without charge, versus other web sites for which browsing incursa fee to be paid by the user.
 5. The method of claim 1 that includespreventing access to certain computer resources, by reference to saidterms of service information.
 6. A method comprising: sensing data froman object using a first user's cell phone; by reference to the senseddata, a first party providing a service to the first user, said servicecomprising facilitating user access to a computer resource over anetwork; and said first party billing a charge connected with saidservice to a second sponsoring party; wherein the first party does notreceive a fee for said service from said first user.
 7. The method ofclaim 6 that includes providing said service for free to a first subsetof users who present a first type of access credential to gain access tothe service, and charging a fee therefor to a second subset of users wholack said first type of access credential.
 8. The method of claim 6 thatincludes: providing said service to a first user who presents an objectfrom a certain class of objects; and to a second user who does notpresent such an object, providing said service in exchange for a fee. 9.The method of claim 6 that includes providing said service to the firstuser in response to said user presenting a physical object of a certainclass.
 10. The method of claim 6 wherein the computer resource serves topromote a product or service offered by said second party.
 11. Themethod of claim 6 wherein said service comprises linking to a computerresource identified by reference to machine readable data sensed from aprinted object.
 12. A method of providing network services to members ofthe public, in an area open to the public, the method comprising:delivering network services to first and second users in said area opento the public; in connection with the first user, charging to asponsoring third party distinct from said first user a fee associatedwith said user's access; and in connection with a second user, chargingsaid user a fee associated with said user's access; wherein the feeassociated with the first user's access is charged to the sponsoringthird party because the first user employed a cell phone to senserequired data from an object, whereas the second user did not.
 13. Amethod comprising: with a cell phone, sensing data from a physicalobject presented by a user; by reference to said sensed data, accessinga data store having terms of service information related to saidphysical object; and providing a service to said user, said servicecomprising facilitating user access to a computer resource over anetwork, wherein terms of said service are determined by reference tosaid terms of service information accessed from said data store, saidterms of service information identifying particular computer resourcesor classes of resources, and associating corresponding access privilegesor restrictions with each.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein saidphysical object comprises an ID card.
 15. The method of claim 13 inwhich said service comprises providing access to networked web sites,and said terms of service relate to content-based restrictions on websites that can be freely accessed.
 16. The method of claim 13 in whichsaid service comprises providing access to networked web sites, and saidterms of service relate to restrictions on web sites that can be freelyaccessed based on corporate affiliation, said corporate affiliationbeing evidenced by the particular physical object presented by the user.17. The method of claim 13 that includes preventing access to certaincomputer resources, by reference to said terms of service information.18. A method for accessing content over the internet on a discounted orfree basis, comprising the acts: through use of a cell phone device,sensing RFID data from a physical object; communicating informationbased on the sensed RFID data from the cell phone device; through use ofthe cell phone device, accessing content over the internet; andpresenting said accessed content to a user of said cell phone device;wherein the method further includes, as a consequence of the sensed RFIDdata, benefitting from a waiver or a discount of an otherwise-imposedcharge for accessing said content.